This is a personal, or hobby, website devoted to my interest in British railway history. It is based around a collection of railway related documents that I’ve accumulated over the years. I find this material fascinating as a record of how some of Britain’s railways were planned, built and modified. Interwoven with the civil engineering information is a social history and human story. I’ve put the material on line for the benefit of others with a shared passion in this aspect of our railway heritage. Some are direct transcripts of old railway documents whilst others are articles I’ve written myself, purely for the fun of it. These are based on a sort of DIY home historical research.
Click on a chosen topic as displayed alphabetically above.
oldrailwaystuff 
Glad you are up and running again…
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Hi – I was in search of stuff on the Manchester and Southampton Railway and came across your site – do you have anything relevant or can you point me in the right direction? cheers.
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I have the full set of route plans (Cheltenham to Southampton) and the book of reference for the 1847 Parliamentary application if that is any use. The book of reference gives the land ownership and tenancy status of all the plots of land along the route that the railway would need to purchase so as to build the line.
These plans and book of reference would also be held at each of the county archives the line went through, and at the House of Lords. I have found the staff at the latter’s reading room in Westminster very helpful when researching other documents.
I live near Chorley in Lancashire – just in case you are in this vicinity.
Regards
Chris
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My ancestor, George Daglish, was a son of Robert Daglish who was a pioneer of locomotive building in Lancashire.
Christopher Morris’s nephew married a descendant of George Daglish.
Thanks for an interesting read.
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Thanks for your feed back. Do you live in the Wigan area? The “History Shop” [i.e. museum archive] in Wigan has the old news papers which make interesting reading about some of these folks, e.g. their obituaries.
Regards
Chris
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Thanks for the detailed info on Nailsworth railway employees. Very interesting as I live locally and walk that line often.
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Hello Chris, lovely reading the piece on Wigan Dispensary, great detail and I love the notes on the Matrons!
I am carrying out some family research on my relative a medical student who was studying at Edinburgh University in 1823. There were two students there at that time of that name. One was the honourable Dr James Stuart who served Wigan so well the other is recorded as a student who disappears after 1823 and I am struggling to find suitable records to confirm which is my James Stuart.
We have visited the HistoryShop briefly but as there is no record of any family links with Edinburgh this link with Wigan is looking a bit unlikely. I would like some advice on where to go to help us resolve some of the mystery of our family link to either gentleman.
Laura.
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Hello
the article on Wigan Dispensary by Chris Heaven. Do you have any details about Chris Heaven please? Or anything about where the article was originally published. I would like to credit his article in something I am writing.
thank you.
Pat Sharp
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Just in case you didn’t get my reply through the normal email route this one is from my WordPress site.
I am Chris Heaven. I researched Wigan Dispensary by reading through the minute books held in the Borough archive at Leigh. That was during 2015. I pulled the info together and wrote it up during 2016
It has not been formally published apart from on my hobby website where you found it. The History Shop, part of Wigan Archive have a copy. I’ve presented it a couple of times at local history societies. It was all done through my own amateur interest and shared for the interest of others. I did work for Wrightington Wigan and Leigh NHS Fondation Trust 1998-2020 as an Eye Consultant but am now retired living in Chorley Borough. You will see my other railway history interest tops on my hobby website site.
Regards
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Good morning Chris
Thanks so much for replying, great to hear from you. Really enjoyed your article.
I am a newish member of Wigan Local History and Heritage Society.
A couple of years ago we undertook some research about King Street in Wigan, under the King Street Heritage Action Zone project.
We are currently working on a new website and are having a section containing our King Street research. I wondered if we could include your article please?
Also we are writing a book about King Street and we would like to use some of the information as a base for the section of the book about the dispensary.
On a different note, my brother and I are researching Wigan’s churches
https://whobuiltwiganschurches.co.uk/
We have come across a couple of the surgeons so far, in our research. James White, very involved in St. Michael and All Angels in Swinley. George Daglish’s second wife makes donations to Holy Trinity, Downall Green. Good to find new parts of their lives.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Pat Sharp
London E11
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Please feel free to use my write up on Wigan Dispensary as you see fit and is necessary for your project. A simple acknowledgement would be nice. Wigan Baptist church was next to the Dispensary in the day but has since moved Scarisbrick St. I know the chap who was pastor there until quite recently. He may know some of the history of the church when it was on King St. Do you want me to ask him or have you that base already covered. The 1847 map of Wigan is extremely detailed and available on line at National Library of Scotland. Let me know if you need help with that. My email address outside of this stream is chriseyeman@gmail.com.
Chris
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